"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind" - Dr. Seuss

Thursday, October 02, 2008

BC's Northern Capital

As many of you who have been playing along on Facebook know, I was in Prince George for the first part of this week (I was posting updates to FB as I got internet access). Why you may ask? For a conference. I think I've mentioned that I sit on the Board of Directors for the organization I used to work for. That organization is one of 34 of it's kind in British Columbia and this was their annual conference. (I went to the Association AGM in March. Next year the two events will be combined.)

Bright and early Sunday morning I was picked up by two other Directors, Donna, Grant (and his wife Judy) and Grant drove us to the Vancouver airport. Our plane was delayed for about 30 minutes due to fog in PG but it was clear flying along the coast and I had a great view of Howe Sound and the Coastal Mountain range. (The white spot in the picture on the left is a ferry going from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale) Once we arrived in PG we were treated to brilliant orange and yellow fall foilage. It was beautiful. At home everything is still green and is just starting to change. Up there it's really dry and the trees are brightly coloured.

I had had a busy few days before our trip so after we checked in Grant and Judy went golfing and I just relaxed in my room for awhile. I did go out an explore the downtown section of Prince George for awhile but being Sunday, most places were closed. Luckily "Books & Company" a fantastic little...actually, not so little, book store and cafe was open. I hung out there for awhile just because it was such a great place.

That evening (after a nap after my walk) we had a welcome reception in the Two Rivers Art Gallery which I looked down at from my hotel room. This picture was taken from in front of the Civic Centre. The clock is part of Civic Plaza. The building behind is the art gallery and the building behind that is my hotel.

Monday we were up bright and early for the conference. All of the speakers they had were excellent and I learned a lot. I got sick of conference food pretty fast (it was unimaginative and bad quality) but it was free so I didn't complain too much. That evening Grant, Judy and I joined other delegates at a local PG restaurant called Cimo's. We had a nice time chatting and getting to know each other better.

Tuesday was more of the same. Late in the afternoon I skipped boring sounding round table discussion and went for a walk in the sunshine. That evening was our "Gala Awards Dinner". I was soooo surprised when I was awarded a "Volunteer of the Year" Award. I definitely wasn't expecting that. Each of the 34 organizations is able to nominate a Volunteer which is why I say "a". I was one of 21. It was wonderful and very special.

Wednesday we got up and had breakfast with the rest of the conference attendees and then headed for the airport. I had an aisle seat so I couldn't really see out the window. I ended up getting a pressure headache that I haven't really shaken yet either. Very painful.

Anyways, PG (which incidently does NOT stand for pregnant, as some of my less observant Facebook friends thought) is a nice little town. I'd have a hard time with the "average winter temperature of -18oC" but it's nice in the fall. I do wish we had had more time for tourist opportunities but I guess it's a reason to go back :)